It begins with an essay by author Gilbert Brownstone on Cuban art and culture since the revoluHere is a coffee table book you will read as you browse.

It begins with an essay by author Gilbert Brownstone on Cuban art and culture since the revolution. After this the author takes a back seat and lets the artists tell you about their work.

Brownstone notes the new and unique nature of Cuban art. After the revolution, the elite fled, leaving room for art to emerge from the people. There was a push for island-wide literacy with arts included in school curricula. The government provided facilities for artists and in 1984 initiated a Havana Biennial. The 1990’s were years of shortages, but a time when Cuban art became recognized as dealers abroad began promoting Cuban works. Until a few years ago, artists were paid by the government and sales were split 50-50. Today Cuban artists have their work in galleries abroad and studios in Cuba, many of which are tour destinations; at some studios the artists give workshops.

The 32 artists represent all genres: painting, installation, sculpture, holograms, paper, wood, collage. Some artists work not only in mixed media – but in several media. The content is as diverse as the media. Some of the art is personal, some experimental; some artists explore texture, others color. some of the art is political, only one overtly erotic. Very little is traditional. All the pieces shown are of exceptional quality.

Each artist is introduced with a map showing his or her place of birth and date and a photograph, usually showing a view of the artist’s studio. Only 2 of the artists are old enough to remember the revolution (although. Born in 1944 and 1951 they were very young). The maps show that artists are as likely to come from the country-side as Havana. There are at least 4 photos for each artist from which you can get an idea of his/her style. When you see these pictures, you'll want to see a show, the art is that good.

Another coffee table book, Cuba Talks: A New Perspective on Cuban Art Now covers similar ground – but you will probably not read this one. The interviews seem stilted and the type faces are jarring. Some of the artists in Art in Cuba appear here too.

If you follow contemporary art, you will probably know something of this very good body of work. If your interest is casual, you should check these out....more

It was a matter of time before Andrea di Robilant, writer of Venetian human interest histories, would research Hemingway’s time in Venice. di RobilantIt was a matter of time before Andrea di Robilant, writer of Venetian human interest histories, would research Hemingway’s time in Venice. di Robilant had access to letters, diaries and memoirs as well as his own interviews. His family socialized with the Hemingway’s and are part of this story.

In 1947 on a business and pleasure trip to Italy with Mary his 4th wife, Hemingway met his last muse, the teenaged Adriana Ivancich. He was immediately smitten. Because of the prominence of Hemingway and of the Ivancich family, his fascination was very public. Adriana’s mother, Dora, worried about the propriety of being seen as the two of them were... tongues are clearly wagging.

Hemingway made matters worse for Adriana’s reputation and her mother by an invitation to Cuba and later by a novel in which the lead character was a thinly veiled portrait of Adriana. The pressures were so great that Hemingway demanded a halt of the Italian language translation of this novel.

The first part of the book is heavy on where and with whom the Hemingway’s traveled (usually artists and European aristocrats), detail on where they stayed and sometimes what they ate and wore while they skied, hunted, dined and drank. Towards, the middle and the end the drama of the story came together.

We see the strange situation of “Daughter” (as Hemingway called her) and her mother’s dismay. We see that sad, lonely and belittled Mary trying to hold together her marriage and the life she loves (traveling, hunting, fishing, shopping and pre-reading manuscripts). Hemingway, while publically and privately nasty to her claims to love Mary and buys her expensive gifts.

This slice of his life has all the he-man Hemingway scenes: life in Cuba, fishing on Pilar and in Africa, hunting everywhere, skiing, a safari (with 2 plane crashes), bull fighting and drinking scenes. There are revisits to his novel locales, movie negotiations, and cameos for second wife Pauline, his 3 sons, publishers, movie stars and fellow writers.

Hemingway comes off as a sad sack. He is unnecessarily pushes away Mary and his sons. He does not help Greg at a critical time (more on this and another dimension of Hemingway, see "Strange Tribe" by son, John). Through this book you see Hemingway's path to his eventual suicide in 1961. Perhaps Adriana and Hemingway were soul mates, she committed suicide in 1983.

This is a book that has needed to be written, but unless you are into Hemingway it will not pull you in.

With the exception of the audio of “A Farewell to Arms” (which I thought was maudlin), I have never read a Hemingway novel. I’ve read a lot of his life since it touches on so many topics and people of interest....more

Marita Lorenz dramatic's life began in 1939 in Germany as the child of an American mother and German father. I was riveted to her memoir which will leMarita Lorenz dramatic's life began in 1939 in Germany as the child of an American mother and German father. I was riveted to her memoir which will left me exhausted in the end. As I read this book, I kept asking myself two questions: How much of this is true? How could she do this?

How much is true? She is very specific with names and places. I presume a lot of this can be backed up with documents and court records, but the book is not footnoted. Marita claims she gave the photo of herself with Lee Harvey Oswald and Frank Sturgis (at the, presumably, CIA training camp where she saw Jack Ruby) was given to Sen. Howard Baker and the photo of her son with Fidel Castro is held by Oliver Stone. Witnesses may be deceased, but could someone have told someone still living who can corroborate the rescue from the Amazon rain forest? The trip to Dallas? The way she was taken out of Spain? etc.

How could she do this? As a toddler she was separated from her parents, sent to Bergen-Belsen and rescued after 8 months; She was raped at age 7. She received concentration camp survivor’s benefits and she names the rapist who was brought to trial for this and other rapes. These events should be documentable, but again, no footnotes. Is her impulsive behavior result from PTSD? Are victims of child abuse prone to promiscuity? Was this the result of an adventurous spirit (similar to her mother before her) in a time of limited roles for women?

Her life and life-style shed light on what her mother would call a “kept woman” of this era. I lost track of the many men who kept her. The first was Fidel Castro with whom she fell in love with at age 19. He kept her in a hotel room and visited her from time to time. (By age 21, still in love, she joins a group dedicated to killing him.) With the deposed President of Venezuela Marcos Perez Jimemez one day she receives a $36,000 bracelet, not long after she is on food stamps. Her second child (or maybe it's her third) had four paternal claimants; 3 were “waiting” at the hospital, and the (believed to be) real father was in jail. As her two US kids grow, they are moved around a lot, often sent to live with others.

From time to time Marita has a job, but they do not last long. She does not have a high school diploma and has no training. While she mentions education for her two kids, it is a minimal factor in their lives.

Nicholas Reynolds documents Ernest Hemingway’s life as a spy for the US and the NKVD (forerunner of the KGB) and builds the case that the emotional stNicholas Reynolds documents Ernest Hemingway’s life as a spy for the US and the NKVD (forerunner of the KGB) and builds the case that the emotional strain of having had Russian contacts led to his breakdown and suicide in 1961.

In the Spanish Civil War Hemingway met and worked with NKVD (forerunner of the KGB) members as sources and on the production crew of “The Spanish Earth”. In WW II Hemingway trolled the waters around Cuba looking for German subs and on the ground sought out contacts on behalf of the FBI. Once back in the action (Europe) he again worked with Russians who were then US allies. In this time he agreed to provide helpful information to the NKVD. The (partial) opening of the Russian archives has a log for “Argo” (Hemingway’s code name) containing a small number of contacts and no significant contributions. After the war, an anti-communist fervor took over US politics. From Cuba, Hemingway watched as the HUAC destroyed the careers of writers with far less contact with communists than he had had.

The story is told through facts and with Reynolds’s overlay that Hemingway, no policy wonk, was true to his anti-fascist leanings. Reynolds shows that as times changed Hemingway’s “premature anti-fascist” work and life could be suspect. This influenced his writing and caused him to lower his profile. He tried halt publication of earlier stories and a play with political overtones. He discreetly supported the Cuban Revolution. Reynolds further poses that having to leave his beloved Cuba due to a cause he supported added to his stress, his proclivity to depression, his paranoia and his suicide.

This adds to the Hemingway saga. I’ll be interested in an interpretive biography that integrates the research presented here. Some areas of interest: Why did Hemingway chose to live under Batista whose form of government he despised? Hemingway’s letters to Buck Lantham are defensive and paranoic: why write this and why write it to Buck Lantham? With Hemingway’s prescience (i.e. noting US equipment all together in Pearl Harbor made a target to be hit; cutting sugar quotas would deliver Cuba to Russia) how could or why did he miss the authoritarianism of Stalin and Castro?

The book is a quick read. Most of the b & w photos are worth way more than 1000 words. It is well footnoted. It begins with a list of people… some are helpfully labeled but does a reader of this book need a 10- 20 word definition for J. Edgar Hoover? Or Leon Trotsky? Chiang Kai-Shek? An index would have been helpful, for instance, when Elizabeth Bentley re-curs at the end, I wanted to review her earlier contacts with Hemingway.

A value added for this book is that in glimpses how Russians recruit their assets. They take the long view and keep very good records. The book reminds you that in the 1950’s they had some very highly placed informants in the US, and 70 years later they still do.

Juan Reinaldo Sanchez has seen a lot of the world and even more of life in service to Cuba, or moI read this 3 sittings over 24 hours - fully riveted.

Juan Reinaldo Sanchez has seen a lot of the world and even more of life in service to Cuba, or more accurately, Fidel Castro. Upon his 2008 defection, he must have been a treasure trove for the CIA.

Because of his top security position he is able to tell how El Lider Maximo was able to elude over 600 assassination attempts. Castro’s personal security apparatus is a marvel, well supported with personnel and technology. You learn of his special food, how his clothes are laundered, how his double functions, how the staff is trained and scheduled and how Castro is involved in every detail. Besides his security work, Sanchez helped in compiling his boss’ diary/daily log, which if it survives, will fascinate scholars for generations.

Dr. Selman, Castro’s physician also deserves respect for his work. He has kept alive his only patient who has had some form of cancer since the 1980’s. Dr. Selman has at his disposal a private clinic for this sole patient and has on hand two men who share Castro’s rare blood type.

There is more here on the Castro family and their living situations than I have ever seen. Castro’s many houses and their appointments stand in contrast to his wardrobe. The book opens on Castro’s yacht and a description of an island estate. Later there are descriptions of his other homes, each more fitting a capitalist than the head of a poor communist nation. Sanchez tells of his 9 children by 5 women and where they are and what they are doing today.

I have read of Castro's friendship of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but no where have I seen how close it was. Gabo had his own living quarters in Havana and appears often in this book. He surely knew of his friend’s double life.

Sanchez reminds the reader of Castro’s influence world-wide. While he has had mixed success with his international interference he is celebrated in communist countries, dictatorships and countries in rebellion. Sanchez has some interesting observations and anecdotes on traveling with Castro.

Following his incarceration (and torture) for wanting to retire early (although he doesn’t connect it, it could be his son and daughter’s defections or Castro’s paranoia following the Ochoa affair), Sanchez’s defection took 12 years. He was closely followed and foiled by his need to be successful and discrete, the weather and other circumstances. His security training served him well in his escape.

I expect that a lot here is not just new to me, but truly new. The book is full of information. While it is written in a conversational voice, there are few spare words. Besides the light shown on Castro, you also learn Sanchez's remarkable story.

Today, Cuba is undergoing a revolution that appears to be as significant as the first. A quick Google search shows right away that the US media is eitToday, Cuba is undergoing a revolution that appears to be as significant as the first. A quick Google search shows right away that the US media is either uninterested or unaware that Cubans are now encouraged to start businesses, sell their own produce, travel, and buy and sell homes and cars. This change from a socialist model to a capitalist model and is accompanied by layoffs which are significantly downsizing Cuba’s sprawling bureaucracy and thrusting many into unemployment with almost no severance pay or other financial cushion.

Marc Frank shows how the loss of Soviet patronage damaged the economy of the island. Later, the alliance with Hugo Chavez for Venezuelan oil helped somewhat, but the world wide downturn (and always the US embargo) forced debt beyond what could be realistically paid. The stultifying economic bureaucracy could not continue.

There is data showing how Cuba ranks in the middle of nations on many scales such as standard of living, education, human rights, corruption, etc. and ranks quite high among Caribbean and Latin American counties. Frank draws from conflict resolution theory to describe what is happening in Cuba now: When you are losing, surrender before you lose control. This apparently is what Raul, if not Fidel too, is doing: trying to keep the gains of their revolution, so all will not be lost.

This can be like reference book with data on agriculture (acreage and yields), car and taxi ownership, housing stock, jobs, registered businesses, medical personnel, travel permits etc. For each of these areas there is lot on policy, such as how to register, buy or sell, or what a size or quota might be. There are dates and excerpts of significant speeches regarding the issues surrounding these topics.

There is a data-free discussion on the role of religion in Cuban life and how it is political all the way from Rome to Miami. Local elections seem to show that local politics, at least, are a competitive democracy, and contrary to the belief of many in the states, people speak very freely, at least to Marc Frank.

The book is probably a “must read” for anyone with business in Cuba or with the need to be up on policy in Cuba. While the general reader can glaze over the reference data, there is nothing I know to substitute if you want to know what is going on in Cuba. ...more

We know all about the politics... so how about the people? Lea Aschkenas tells us in her moving account of falling in love in Cuba.

A set of circumstanWe know all about the politics... so how about the people? Lea Aschkenas tells us in her moving account of falling in love in Cuba.

A set of circumstances and a desire to learn Spanish put her where few Americans go. She starts off in the cocoon of a tourist hotel and moves (down) to a room the landlord sacrifices greatly to bring it to what we might award 1 or 2 stars, and in the end goes (way down) nearly native.

Along the way she meets Cubans and tells us how they cope. The revolution has brought them free health care (but not free medicine), education (but not jobs to go with it) and affordable symphony music. A schoolteacher tells how cleans her carpet with a t-shirt because brooms (she does not even consider a vacuum cleaner) cost US$.. so it takes her 3 hours.

Lea meets Alfredo, and he is unabashedly in love with her. She worries that the cultural divide is too great, but slips into love with him. Alfredo introduces Lea to the many alternate ways to provide life's small pleasures and she introduces them to us.

A very satisfying book about ordinary people, living their lives in Cuba....more

Who would have thought that a tiny, poor tropical, island nation would have a top notch espionage organization? CIA didn't in the 1950's and 60's andWho would have thought that a tiny, poor tropical, island nation would have a top notch espionage organization? CIA didn't in the 1950's and 60's and as a result its major Cuban operations were compromised. From interviews with key defectors and from now declassified the CIA and FBI files, the author describes DGI, the spy organization that Fidel Castro and his brother carefully built and continue to run.

The atrocities of the regime and the megalomaniac actions of its leader inspired defectors who arrived at embassies. From them, the CIA learned about Cuba's sophisticated spy network and its reach. They learned about agents, double agents and "dangles" who were sent by the DGI as "bait" for the CIA to work with and trust. The defectors' stories lead up to the most provocative parts of the book: the potential Cuban role in the JFK assassination.

Through the evidence of a potential Castro involvement in the assassination, you see the inner workings of both the CIA and the DGI. You see how critical defector information is to the agency and how dangerous dangles can be. While Castro might have known in advance, there is no evidence linking Castro to the JFK assassination. The circumstantial elements are interesting, but not convincing. Also not convincing is the premise of Castro's motive: that President Kennedy, personally pursued regime change in Cuba after the Bay of Pigs up to and including a Castro assassination. Latell used a lot of "could haves" in the discussion of Desmond FitzGerald the liaison of the Kennedy's to the CIA Cuba staff. While Latell, does not seem to support the Castro involvement theory, he seems convinced that Kennedy actively pursued a regime change for Cuba until his death.

Latell avoids discussion of the various CIA involvement theories. There were no comments on the CIA - Cuba connections such as those of the Watergate burglars and the presence of some of them in Dallas on the day of the assassination. These anti-Castro operatives would be persons of interest to Castro. It would be stunning if they were involved and the DGI had ordered Florentino Aspillaga to listen in only on Texas on November 22, 1963 due to something picked up from eavesdropping on them.

This is a well written bio. No histronics, no preaching, no selling of a viewpoint. The author is a former CIA officer and current teacher of the CubaThis is a well written bio. No histronics, no preaching, no selling of a viewpoint. The author is a former CIA officer and current teacher of the Cuban Revolution at Columbia U. He credits his sources by name, noting each person's relation to the events, which is welcome for the layman. While the title implies that the book is about "After Fidel", this topic comprises less than 1/4 of the text. While to predict the future, you need to know the past, the subtitle works better.

Latell defines how Castro, through extraordinary intellect, a sensitivity to competition and a lack of moral restraint was able to take over a small island country and make it his fiefdom. He was a svengali to his brother, Raul, who's unacknowledged skills were necessary to Fidel's rise and continued dominance. Raul, like the rest of Cuba, is compelled for pyschological and practical reasons to cater to Fidel's paranoia.

Raul ascends to head the military by demonstrating his loyalty through leading ruthless prosecutions including that of a good friend and confidant... a popular and successful general... who's crime was to "dis" Fidel in a private conversation. Unlike Fidel, Raul has a modicum of conscience regarding this particular execution. Raul had been known to have shown some humanity at least once before, in visiting his father while the revolution expropriated the family homestead. Raul is not seen in public and the author says he's an alcoholic. If Fidel were to die today, w/could the 75 year old Raul be the Deng Xiaoping of Cuba?

The situation of Lina (Castro's mother) and her children (Fidel, Raul + 5 others) living in a shack while Angel (father) and his legal wife live in the comfortable "big house" is reminiscent of a pre-Civil War US plantation. Eventually the children are recognized by their father but, I presume, the psychological damage had been done.

Latell gives details of some things of which I was only vaguely aware. One was Casto's early obsession with "liberating" Puerto Rico. Another was the group of "non-aligned" nations, which through design Castro leads. Fidel and the entire organization are later sidelined by his necessary statement of alignment with the Soviet Union when it invaded Afghanistan.

There are insights on the workings of international information systems. I didn't know that the lack of coordination of the FBI and CIA was that FBI cases lead to criminal trials and CIA material, witnesses, etc. must be confidential. A Cuban mole, now in prison, provides information to Fidel, and disinformation to us, for 8 years. An anecdote about a mango tree illustrates, not only Fidel's inability to deal with criticism, but also how international information systems keep tabs on each other.

While there is little text on the eventual succession, I recommend this highly readable bio. I don't know how it measures up to the many other Fidel bios, but the author has an interesting and clear style. He is precise in his language and labels what is known and what is speculative. ...more

The book began with somewhat of an attitude. One of the exiles "wallowed in history like a boy in a mud bog", another "cackles gleefully", and othersThe book began with somewhat of an attitude. One of the exiles "wallowed in history like a boy in a mud bog", another "cackles gleefully", and others "unashamedly shook hands" (why be ashamed to shake hands?). I almost put it down, but I'm glad I didn't. A lot of information and some very good writing follows.

The book is one part travelog, one part recent Cuban history and one part the story of Castro's classmates at the exclusive Jesuit school. Some of "the boys" supported Castro and his revolution before they fought against him. History is intertwined with descriptions of rations, baseball games and streetscapes.

The stories of the "boys" are the stories of the upheaval. Some smelled the coffee right away and left. Others were jolted out as they saw their liberties and property falling away. Some, like Kiki de Jongh remain for reasons that are very unclear.

I wonder how this author has slipped in and out of Cuba, as he says, for 11 years. He clearly knows the turf, and can write of the changing moods and landscapes. He has ferreted out some oral histories inside of and outside of Cuba that add to the literature to be sifted by future historians. It seems that Symmes knows some of the interviewees quite well. Presumably he has more extensive tapes and notes that I hope will someday be donated to a research institution.

In the final pages Symmes gives some ideas about what could happen after Castro's death.

I think a good editor could make this a 5 star book. The first 50 pages or so need some work. Throughout, some phrases could be metaphors or statements, it's hard to tell. Some ideas are introduced in a way that you might not catch that the topic is changing (and go back to find what you missed). Pictures, even blow ups from the cover photo, would be a good addition and for the general reader, a map is needed.

The title is deceiving. I don't think this book was originally intended to be about the "boys". For instance, the author is given 2 addresses for one alumni, and dutifully mails the envelopes. If this were actually about alums, he would have pursued him and other leads....more